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News Article

Baghdad Attacks Kill, Wound Iraqi Civilians, Police

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2005  Two attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, today have left at least 16 civilians and five Iraqi police officers dead and scores wounded. A mortar attack in Mosul killed one civilian and injured five more.

A suicide-bomb attacks at a popular restaurant in central Baghdad shortly before 3 p.m. local time today killed 13 civilians and five Iraqi police officers and wounded at least 34 other civilians, U.S. officials with Task Force Baghdad said.

Iraqi police quickly secured the area, U.S. soldiers from Task Force Baghdad assisted with traffic control. "In the wake of the blast, police and local medics rushed to the site to begin treating and evacuating the wounded," a TF Baghdad official said in a release.

"Today's indiscriminate attack on an Iraqi restaurant is another sign that the terrorists are continuing to kill innocent Iraqi citizens," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Robert Roth, commander of 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, said. "Iraqi Security Forces, in coordination with coalition forces, are conducting aggressive operations throughout the Baghdad area and making it very difficult for the terrorists to attack harder targets.

"It's a shame that Iraqi police and Iraqi civilians died today, and we offer our condolences to the families of the victims of this tragic event," he added.

A few hours earlier, a car bomb detonated behind an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding 30 others, including two Iraqi police officers. Iraqi police said they are increasing patrols and security in the area as they continue to search for the triggerman, a U.S. military official said.

"In these kind of attacks in highly-populated areas, terrorists only hurt innocent people and show a complete disregard for human life," said U.S. Army Maj. Patrick Shannon, of the 256th Brigade Combat Team. "However, these cowardly attempts will not stop the Iraqi people from attaining sovereignty."

Elsewhere in Iraq, an Iraqi civilian was killed and another five were injured during a terrorist mortar attack in central Mosul today. The injured civilians were taken to a local hospital for treatment, U.S. officials said. A number of terrorist attacks over the past four days have killed two and another injured 20 Iraqi civilians in northern Iraq. "These attacks either directly targeted or disregarded civilian lives," a U.S. official said in a statement.